Rev. Alban Butler's ORIGINAL Lives of the Saints - August & September- Vol. 5
Hardcover - Illustrated -840 pages
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Very few published works require such a lengthy explanation of exactly WHICH edition is being offered, in what format, and why, than Fr. Alban Butler’s Lives of the Saints. The reason is that there are so many very different books being printed under this author’s name and under this title due to it’s long history (the work is almost 300 years old) and its universal popularity. Few catholic books except the Bible, the Confessions, the Imitation, and the Summa, are as widely read. This book has also been extensively revised, altered, and updated since its original publication, with new editions, even 21st century revisions being made, that we feel the time is ripe for an original, unexpurgated, and unrevised print version to be made available.
This edition is widely considered to be the most complete and authoritative ever issued. It is the 1854 edition of D. J. Sadlier of New York, and in the Preface it gives its “pedigree.” The original was printed anonymously in London in 1759, after 30 years work on the project. The edition published by Sadlier is an exact replica of the Dublin and London edition of 1833. Being a scholarly work, but also a work deeply imbued with the piety and devotion of a priest’s lifetime effort, it is loaded with footnotes which comprise a significant proportion of the total text. In the original book, the footnotes were printed in such a small, closely-set typeface, that they were almost unreadable.
Loreto Publications has utilized the recent development of OCR scanning to extract the original text and to put it into a modern, highly readable, and much larger font typeface than any of the old editions. We have extensively proofread the text thus generated, and have made the layout “user friendly” as the moderns so succinctly state. In addition, our already available edition of Butler’s Little Pictorial Lives—which is a drastic abridgment of this original edition to one volume, illustrated, with one saint and one image for each day of the year—has provided us with 365 beautiful 19th century engravings which we have added to this original un-illustrated text.
Loreto has made a few corrections of obvious typographical errors and has slightly altered some capitalization rubrics and some spellings, but we have has refrained from alterations to the text. We think that modern readers are not so uneducated as to need the work “updated” for them, either as to content or style, since the beautiful expressiveness of Butler’s 18th century grammatical and rhetorical mastery is not so far removed historically as to render it unintelligible to any ordinary 21st century reader. We are certain that our readers will appreciate the original work for its piety, beauty, and comprehensive scholarship.
A great man once said that “History is the laboratory of Wisdom.” And where do we find the best history? It is found in the lives of the saints, for it is through their lives on earth, lived within the union of Christ’s mystical body, the Catholic Church, that we see the only history that truly matters for all eternity.
This spectacular history by Fr. Alban Butler, The Lives of the Saints, presents to the reader the life story of over 1600 saints and their times. In the original introduction we find this bold statement:
“It is on this account we have ventured to designate The Lives of the Saints an historical supplement to the Old and New Testaments. We think this work deserves to be so considered, on account of the close resemblance it bears to the historical portions of holy writ. Let the divine economy, in this respect, be for a moment the subject of the reader’s consideration.”
Loreto Publications has here reproduced the finest original edition of the text from the early 19th century with no modernization, alterations, deletions, or additions to the product of Father Butler.
Father Alban Butler was born in 1710, at Appletree, Northamptonshire, the second son of Simon Butler, Esq. Orphaned at the age of eight, he was sent to be educated at the English College, Douay, in France. In 1735, Butler was ordained a priest. At Douay, he was appointed professor of philosophy, and later professor of theology. It was at Douay, he began his principal work The Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs and Other Principal Saints. He also prepared material for Richard Challoner’s Memoirs of Missionary Priests, a work on the martyrs of the reign of Elizabeth. He labored for some time as a missionary priest in Staffordshire, and was finally appointed president of the English seminary at Saint Omer in France, where he remained till his death in 1773.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Approbation
Publisher’s Notes
St. Peter’s Chains
The Seven Machabees
Sts. Faith, Hope, and Charity
St. Ethelwold
St. Pellegrini
St. Stephen, Pope and Martyr
St. Etheldritha
St. Alphonsus Liguori
The Invention of St. Stephen
St. Nicodemus
St. Gamaliel
St. Walthen
St. Dominic
St. Luanus
The Dedication of Our Lady of the Snows
St. Oswald
St. Afra and Companions
St. Memmius
The Transfiguration of Our Lord
St. Sixtus II
Sts. Justus and Pastor
St. Cajetan
St. Donatus
Sts. Cyriacus, Largus, Smaragdus and their Companions
St. Hormisdas
St. Romanus
St. Nathy
St. Fedlimid
St. Laurence
St. Deusdedit
St. Blaan
St. Tiburtius and St. Chromatius
St. Susanna
St. Gery
St. Equitius
St. Clare
St. Euplius
St. Muredach
St. Hippolytus
St. Cassian
St. Radegundes
St. Wigbert
St. Eusebius
St. Eusebius of Rome
The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
St. Alipius
St. Arnoul
St. Mac-Cartin
St. Hyacinth
St. Roch
St. Mamas
Sts. Liberatus and Six Monks
St. Helen
St. Agapetus
St. Clare of Monte Falco
Sts. Timothy, Agapius, and Thecla
St. Louis
St. Mochteus
St. Cumin
St. Bernard
St. Oswin
Sts. Bonosus and Maximilian
St. Jane Frances de Chantal
St. Richard
St. Bernard Ptolemy
St. Hippolytus
St. Symphorian
St. Timothy
St. Andrew Deacon
St. Philibert
St. Philip Beniti
Sts. Claudius, Asterius, Neon, Domnina, and Theonilla
St. Apollinaris Sidonius
St. Theonas
St. Eugenius
St. Justinian
St. Bartholomew
The Martyrs of Utica
St. Ouen
St. Irchard
St. Louis, King of France
St. Gregory
St. Ebba
St. Zephyrinus
St. Genesius
St. Gelasinus
St. Genesius of Arles
St. Cæsarius
St. Poemen
St. Hugh of Lincoln
St. Joseph Calasanctius
St. Malrubius
St. Syagrius
St. Augustine
St. Hermes
St. Julian at Brioude
The Decollation of St. John Baptist
St. Sabina
St. Sebbi
St. Merri
St. Rose of Lima
Sts. Felix and Adauctus
St. Fiaker
St. Pammachius
St. Agilus
St. Raymund Nonnatus
St. Isabel
St. Cuthburge
St. Aidan
St. Giles
Twelve Brothers
St. Lupus
St. Firminus II
St. Stephen, King of Hungary
St. Justus
St. William
Bl. Margaret
St. Simeon Stylites
St. Remaclus
St. Mansuet
St. Macnisius
Sts. Marcellus and Valerian
The Translation of St. Cuthbert
St. Ida
St. Rosalia
St. Rosa of Viterbo
St. Ultan
St. Laurence Justinian
St. Bertin
St. Alto
St. Pambo
St. Eleutherius
St. Bega
St. Cloud
St. Regina
St. Evurtius
St. Grimonia
St. Madelberte
Sts. Alchmund and Tilberht
St. Eunan
The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin
St. Adrian
St. Sidronius
Sts. Eusebius, Nestabulus, Zeno, and Nestor
St. Corbinian
St. Disen
The Holy Name of the Virgin Mary
Sts. Gorgonius, Dorotheus, and Companions
St. Omer
St. Kiaran
St. Osmanna
St. Bettelin
St. Nicholas of Tolentino
St. Pulcheria
Sts. Nemesianus, Felix, Lucius, another Felix, Litteus, Polianus, Victor, Jader, and Dativus
St. Finian
St. Salvius
Sts. Protus and Hyacinthus
St. Paphnutius
St. Patiens
St. Eanswide
St. Guy
St. Albeus
St. Eulogius
St. Amatus
St. Ame
St. Maurilius
The Exaltation of the Holy Cross
St. Catharine of Genoa
St. Cormac
St. Nicetas
St. Nicomedes
St. John the Dwarf
St. Aicard
St. Aper
St. Cornelius
St. Cyprian
St. Euphemia
Sts. Lucia and Geminianus
St. Ninian
St. Editha
St. Lambert
St. Columba
St. Hildegardis
St. Rouin
Sts. Socrates and Stephen
St. Thomas of Vlllanova
St. Methodius
St. Ferreol
St. Joseph of Cupertino
St. Januarius
St. Theodore
Sts. Peleus, Pa-Termuthes, and Companions
St. Lucy
St. Eustochius
St. Sequanus
St. Eustachius and Companions
St. Agapetus
St. Matthew, Apostle
St. Maura
St. Lo
St. Maurice and His Companions
St. Emmeran
St. Linus
St. Thecla
St. Adamnan
St. Gerard
St. Germer
St. Rusticus
St. Chuniald
St. Pacificus
St. Ceolfrid
St. Barr
St. Firmin
St. Aunaire
Sts. Cyprian and Justina
St. Eusebius
St. Colman Elo
St. Nilus the Younger
Sts. Cosmas and Damian
St. Elzear
St. Wenceslas
St. Lioba
St. Eustochium
St. Exuperius
The Dedication of St. Michael’s Church
St. Theodota
St. Jerome
St. Gregory
St. Honorius
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